The New 13
Ximena entered the slightly wartorn area in which the denizens of ERB resided. As expected, the general populous was still at each other's throats. What caught Ximena's attention the most were the graffiti images of either Negative Four or Scrawland Scribblescratch plastered around every street corner. "Interesting," Ximena thought to herself. "Even though she seems like a jackass on the outside, Dani sure knows how to gain the support of a crowd. Too bad that won't mean anything soon though." After wandering into ERB territory, it did not take long for others to notice her attention. However, unlike Negative Four, as soon as anyone approached her, she would either tell them to go away or ignore them. For a while, this strategy was successful, and she managed to roam the ERB territory relatively undetected. Unfortunately for her though, the little attention that she did receive, was negative. Her generally abrasive attitude made her many enemies, and little friends. With so few allies to work with, the war still raged on, and she was running out of options. "Damn it, how hard can it be to just exist without everyone trying to learn so much about me?" she lamented. "Tell me about it. Sometimes, the pressure of this community is just too much to handle," a voice replied from behind. Startled, Ximena quickly turned to face the source of the voice. To her surprise, it was a nerdy, but friendly teenager of east-Asian descent. She blushed a little, but then quickly waved her hair to hide it. "Ohai, you scared me a little," Ximena stuttered. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to. You just seemed a little lonely. You're always by yourself," he replied. Ximena shrugged. "I've always been a loner. Say, I've seen your face on a few posters. You're J1coupe, right? The leader of ERB?" "Yes I am, but please, call me Jason," he said with a chuckle. "J1coupe sounds way too formal." "Ok, Jason," Ximena said with a smile. "It's nice to formally meet you. I think you're the first person that I've met who has not either hit on me or wanted me gone." "I like to be the middle ground. Unfortunately, that's hard to do lately. Everyone is still mad at each other over certain staff members. If Negative Four and Scraw could just get along, then none of this would be an issue," Jason sighed. Seeing an opportunity to begin her ascent into ERB's hierarchy, Ximena began to offer her own political ideas. They were designed to be logical to the untrained her, but in reality, her policies would only serve her own agenda. Unfortunately, Jason couldn't see through her deceit, and he began to consider her ideas. Over time, the two became closer. Much, much closer. Ximena found herself changing as well. Although she was confident within the Four Stars, she was often awkward and antisocial around anyone else. The time spent at ERB changed that, and she became confident, more outspoken, and even more manipulative. All of these traits were necessary for her plan to work. "Perfect, everything is working out better than I had hoped, but there's still the issue of Evol. If I make even a single step in the wrong direction, then he'll kill me. He's a big threat to my well-being, and I need a fail-safe," Ximena thought to herself. Pondering her options, she came to the conclusion that the best way to handle Evol, was with a game that she was very familiar with. Category:A to Z Category:Four☆Stars Era Category:Short Stories